Golden Heart
by Mouseshadow01
Summary: After her parents die in a car crash days before her tenth birthday, Vanellope moves in with her Uncle and bully of a cousin, Taffyta. Finding only more and more unhappiness here after three years, Vanellope runs away, and by chance meets a man named Ralph, who begrudgingly decides to help her out. Will she be able to find the long-lost happiness she's looking for? T for triggers.


**Prologue: Fare Thee Well**

When she looked back on that day, and the agonizingly long, grey days that had soon followed, it should have been obvious to her that there was something very, very wrong. Or at least that something was _about_ to go wrong.

Foreboding had hung heavy in the air the day after the races, but having been so naïve and young it had all flown over her head without even so much as a subtle glance in its direction. It may seem odd and maybe even superstitious to believe this, but looking back on it now she was more than positive that _something_ had been trying to warn her of the downward spiral she had been close to falling into. And later did.

That twilight was grey. Clouds hung low, grey masses of collected water droplets so often mistaken for feather-soft things you could touch. They obscured the sunset so well that you couldn't see the gentle hues of pinks and purples that wove through slowly darkening periwinkle skies. She hadn't thought much of it then, but now it was no wonder the clouds had threatened to rain down upon them.

"_You should'a seen me! I was all like 'whoosh' and 'whiiiir-eek' and 'get outt'a my way, chump!" An excited, shrill voice exclaimed, the little girl whom it belonged to bouncing excitedly in her seat as she went through a re-run of her first race for the millionth time since that afternoon._

_Bill chuckled and merely shook his balding head in amusement as she continued on and on about the race. His bright green gaze flickered from the road ahead of him to the rearview mirror to catch a glimpse of the young ravenette. Seeing her so animated caused his heart to swell with pride although he was far from being her father or any relative of any kind. _

"—_And then I __**won first place**__, Sour Bill! Can ya believe it? My first race ever!" The child concluded with a beaming grin, leaning forward in her seat to get a better look at her family's butler. _

"_I never doubted your skills for a second, little miss." Bill replied, sparing a second to grin right back at her despite the fact that she'd went ahead and used that nickname for him again. "I'm sure your parents will be very proud to hear how well you did when they get back."_

_The girl grinned for a second longer before blinking and sitting back in her seat. The mention of her parents having not been able to attend caused the child to deflate a little with obvious disappointment, and this displeasure carried over in her voice. "Why'd they gotta leave for their dumbo business trip _today_?" She asked, crossing her arms over her little chest. "I dun see why they had ta go…."_

_The brake was slowly pushed down as the car slowed to a stop at a red light, and it was then that Sour Bill twisted around in her seat to see the girl. "Vanellope, if they could have rescheduled their trip to another day then I'm sure they would have. They wanted to watch you race more than anything, I promise."_

"_Well, they still __**didn't.**__" Vanellope retorted, a pout registering on her face and threatening to stay there for the rest of the day. "Why was it so important anyways?"_

_A loud honk from the car behind him forced Sour Bill to turn back around in his seat to drive. That of course didn't stop him from talking to the child. "If your parents land this deal then they'll be able to enroll _you_ to the best of the best racing camp- among other things. They want you to fulfil your dream of racing, and the person they're meeting is….pushy…to say the least. He refused to give another date; he's either busy or impatient, to which I say impatient."_

_The little girl's brow rose as Bill spoke, and she slowly began to smirk at something amusing she thought up. "Your sour side is showing again, __**Sour Bill**__._" _She giggled, shaking her head slightly at the silly face the butler shot at her in the mirror._

"_But alright. If that's what ya say." A devious chuckle as she turned her gaze out the window. "They're not gonna get any slack when they get home though. Their penalty is getting us extra ice-cream when we go t'_A La Mode _for my birthday."_

_Green eyes glanced at the young girl a third time as he turned into the driveway of their two-story house, a light-hearted chuckle coming from the middle aged man._

"_Whatever you say, little miss."_

The sky was again clouded over and dark, but unlike then the clouds didn't bother holding back the rain they held. They were crying the tears she hadn't been able to shed since she heard the news.

The soft pitter-pattering of rain on an umbrella's shield was all just white noise to Vanellope. **Everything** was white noise. The murmur of her parent's friends as they gazed down at her with pity in their eyes. The words of reassurance and supposedly comforting words given to her by everyone who passed. The words of farewell carried out by their close friends and others when it was their turn to approach the caskets.

Besides her parents, Vanellope had no other relatives besides her one uncle from her father's side and her cousin, Taffyta. Sour Bill, being only her butler, was not a blood relative despite having been around her entire life, and now with her parents dead after the crash her well-being had fallen into the hands of said uncle, of whom she did not know. Nor did she _want_ to know.

Her uncle hadn't bothered to ever even attempt to contact anyone in his family, and thus she had never met him or her cousin. Neither of them had bothered to show up even **today** of all days.

Her birthday.

Her parent's funeral.

As she stared numbly at the caskets holding her mother and father's corpses, her small hand reached up to clutch the golden locket that now hung around her neck. In the shape of a heart with a carefully carved 'V' for 'Vanellope' on the front, this locket had been the gift her parents had wished to give her today.

The only thing that had prevented them from doing so was a slippery road.

A badly timed turn.

A crash.

The dark-haired girl diverted her gaze from the caskets to the floor, bottom lip wedged between her teeth as her hold on the locket tightened.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This wasn't supposed to be happening. Her parents should have come home from their trip safe and sound. She have told them about her first ever race and how well she'd done. They should've told her how proud they were of her as they always did. Her father should have held her close so she could smell the forever-calming scent of pine and cologne that always seemed to envelope him.

They should be at _A La Mode_ right now, all four of them having ice cream and just being **happy**.

Should have, should have, _**should have**_.

A calloused hand on her shoulder wrenched her back to the present. The ever dreadful, bleak, grey present. Looking up, her hazel eyes met bright green ones set into a semi-wrinkled face who's head of hair was beginning to thin. Sour Bill.

Moments passed, filled with mutual silence between butler and little mistress. Both mourning, though one felt too numb to cry like everyone was expecting her to. The patter of rain slowly turned from a thin veil of white noise to a loud thrumming. The songs had ended, everyone had given their speeches, and ever so slowly the crowd was beginning to thin, leaving only the aging man and little girl standing still in the pouring rain.


End file.
